Conventionally, in fork lifts, operators sitting on a seat perform operations while running backward the fork lift in a backward-facing driving posture in many cases, but since the seat is fixed to face forward, during backward running the operators have to drive the fork lift in an unnatural posture with the upper part of their body twisted at nearly 180 degrees backward, which increases operators' fatigue and makes it difficult to secure the rear view. In addition, when they get on and off from one of right and left sides of the seat, they get on and off with less ease.
As the countermeasures against the above, as shown in FIG. 32 to FIG. 34, there is one in which a seat 141 of a fork lift 140 is constructed to be rotatable at a predetermined angle in clockwise and counterclockwise directions with respect to a forward facing position A.
According to the above, when running the fork lift 140 forward, an operator 146 sits on the seat 141 and drives it facing forward while the seat 141 is in the forward facing position A, as shown in FIG. 32. When running the fork lift 140 backward, the seat 141 is rotated to a clockwise position R that is rotated at about 45 degrees to the right from the forward facing position A, as shown in FIG. 33, whereby the operator 146 is comfortable in the rear facing posture, and fatigue is relieved and securing of the rear view is facilitated. Further, as shown in FIG. 34, the seat 141 is rotated to a counterclockwise position L that is rotated at about 35 degrees to the left from the forward facing position A, whereby the operator can get on and off easily from the left side of the seat 141.
Further, the seat 141 described above is provided on a bonnet 142 covering an engine of the fork lift as shown in FIG. 35. Generally, a place where the bonnet 142 is provided is formed as a driver's room, and the driver's room is provided with a steering wheel and various kinds of operating levers. The operator 146 performs a cargo handling operation by operating the steering wheel and various kinds of operating levers while sitting on the seat 141.
On this occasion, the operator 146 sometimes operates the steering wheel and various kinds of operating levers while looking at a document 143 (for example, a storage and retrieval slips and the like) containing the description of the content and procedure of a cargo handling operation. For such a situation, a holder 144 for holding the above-described document 143 is provided on an outer surface of the bonnet 142 at one side of the seat 141. The operator 146 puts the document 143 in the holder 144, and performs a cargo handling operation while looking at this document 143. Since the document 143 is held on the bonnet 142 by the holder 144, the document 143 is prevented from falling off the bonnet 142.
However, according to the above-described fork lift 140 with the conventional construction, the seat 141 may suddenly rotate in clockwise and counterclockwise directions during running and the like.
An accelerator pedal 145 is provided at one position at a right side in front of the seat 141, and when the operator 146 sits on the seat 141 in the forward facing position A as shown in FIG. 32, he or she can operate the accelerator pedal 145 by his or her right foot as usual, but when he or she sits on the seat 141 in the rotated position R as shown in FIG. 33, a problem arises that it is difficult to operate the accelerator pedal 145 by the right foot. On this occasion, the operator may operate the accelerator pedal 145 with his or her left foot, but it may cause an operating error since the operator is not used to do so.
Further, as shown in FIG. 35, since the document holder 144 is provided on the bonnet 142, a position of the holder 144 is at a considerable distance downward from a position of a hand of the operator 146 sitting on the seat 141. Accordingly, when the operator attaches and detaches the document 143 to and from the holder 144 while sitting on the seat 141, the operator 146 has to manipulate the holder 144 in a posture in which the upper part of the body is bent, and thus there arises a problem that he or she has difficulty in working. In addition, since a distance (difference of elevation) between the height of the eyes of the operator sitting on the seat 141 and the holder 144 is large, there arises a problem that it is difficult to see the document 143.
Consequently, a first object of the present invention is to provide an industrial vehicle capable of preventing a seat from suddenly rotating in the clockwise and counterclockwise directions.
A second object of the invention is to provide an industrial vehicle which makes it possible to easily operate an accelerator pedal even when the seat is rotated at a predetermined angle in either clockwise or counterclockwise direction with respect to the forward facing position.
A third object of the invention is to provide an industrial vehicle in which an operator can easily attach and detach a document to and from a document holder while sitting on the seat and the operator can easily see the document attached to the document holder.